FEATURES

After the recent earthquakes and bad weather conditions, according to the Italian risk management commission Italian Dams are in danger. There is no evidence that the seismic sequence is going to stop. From the 24th of August 2016, the day of the disastrous Amatrice's quake, active faults have the potential to produce high-magnitude earthquakes (6-7) which might cause the “Vajont effect” in Abruzzo.

An increasing number of people are leaving Italy. There are five million people registered to Aire (Registry of Italians resident abroad). The number of Italian immigrants abroad is 54,9% more than ten years ago. The province of Agrigento holds the record for having four cities (Licata, Palma di Montechiaro Favara and Aragona) in the list of the 25 cities with more people registered to Aire.
Aragona, in the province of Agrigento is the municipality with the highest number of people living abroad compared to the residents: 89% of Agagona's citizens live abroad, that is 8.491 people over 9.463 residents.

At the beginning of October the price of white Truffle was so low that the precious fungus was almost affordable for everyone. Unfortunately, things have changed rapidly as prices have rocketed and doubled by the beginning of November. Coldiretti reported that the price of white truffle at the Alba truffle stock market, reference point for truffle prices, has reached 450 euros per 100g. At the beginning of October the quotation was just 250 euros per 100g. In less than a month prices have increased by 80% with market values close to the record price of 2012, which was 500 euros per 100g, and close to the high prices of 2007 (450 euros per 100g) and 2013 (350 euros per 100g).

According to a statement released by the Ecomondo Green Technologies Expo, Italy is the leading green economy in Europe. Green technology could be a leading factor to help Italy's economic development. Italy was ranked by analysing eight strategic categories, including greenhouse gas emissions, renewable, recycling and eco-innovation.
Italy ranked better than the green economies of Germany, the UK, France, and Spain but there is still a poor perception on an international level of Italy's supremacy in the green economy field and of what this could mean for the country's future.

Since the 24th of August 2016 three major earthquakes have destroyed the towns along the border of Abruzzo, Umbria, Marche and Lazio. The first earthquake, which caused 298 victims was on the 24th of August 2016 with a 6.0 magnitude and the epicentre was along the Valle del Tronto, between Accumoli, in the Rieti province, and Arquata del Tronto, in the Ascoli Piceno province. Another earthquake was on the 26th of October 2016 with the epicentre on the border between Umbria and Marche affecting the municipalities of the province of Macerata di Visso, Ussita e Castelsantangelo sul Nera. The strongest earthquake was recorded on the 30th of October 2016 with 6.5 magnitude (stronger than the Irpinia earthquake in 1980) with the epicentre between the municipalities of Norcia and Preci, in the province of Perugia.

The report “Italiani nel mondo 2016“ (Italians in the world) by Fondazione Migrantes has revealed that there have been 107.529 Italians living abroad in 2015. There have been 6.232 people more registered to AIRE compared to the previous year, that is an increase of 6.2%. The majority of the expatriates were in the age group 18 to 34 (39.410, il 36.7%). The favourite destination was Germany (16.568), while Lombardy (20.088) and Veneto (10.374) were the regions from where most of the people expatriated.

In the last months there has been much talk about Brexit. The term referring to Britain’s vote to leave the EU has been adopted in other languages, causing problems in languages with masculine and feminine genders. Is Brexit masculine or feminine?

Italy mourns the death of Dario Fo, actor and play-writer who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1997. He died in Milan at the age of 90, three years after the death of his wife and professional partner.
Born in March 1926 in Sangiano, a small town near Lake Maggiore, Fo learned the art of storytelling from his travelling salesman grandfather. Fo’s views were shaped by his experiences as young man in Milan, where he helped his father, an anti-fascist to smuggle British prisoners of war and Italian Jews into Switzerland. His mother, Pina Rota, wrote a book called “The Country of Frogs” which told stories about her family.
Dario Fo was famous all over the world for his political satire. One of his most popular works was “The Accidental Death of an Anarchist”. First performed in 1970 and staged in more than 40 countries.

Do you remember the slogan “Je suis Charlie” which was posted everywhere on social media after the terrorist attack to Charlie Hebdo magazine in 2014? After one of the latest Charlie Hebdo's cartoons entitled “Earthquake Italian style” many Italians wrote on their Facebook pages “Non siamo più Charlie” (we are not Charlie any-more).
Many people felt offended and strongly criticised the Charlie Hebdo's cartoon satirising Amatrice's earthquake victims. Nearly 300 people died in the August’s earthquake in the central Apennines Mountain region of Italy, and the town of Amatrice was one of the hardest hit.

The August earthquake in central Italy killed 297 people and caused from four to five million Euros of damage.
After the rescue operations of the population the efforts are now concentrated on also saving the area’s cultural heritage.
The Lazio region, one of the country’s most seismically active regions is home to picturesque villages with medieval churches and priceless artworks. Only in Amatrice, where there was the worst damage and heaviest loss of lives there were 100 churches.
The rebuilding will take 15 to 20 years and by that time perhaps no one will want to return for fear of another earthquake.